She says: “I live by four main principles: give up not, refuse not, fear not and have hope ? I may be disappointed, but I never give up hope.”

Born in Hong Kong in 1932, Pastor Lee Ching Chee has devoted herself to the duties of the Church and education. She has rewritten the history of the ministry, which was once monopolized by male pastors. A female leader in the Church, Pastor Lee was officially ordained pastor in the 1960s when the Church was very conservative. Pastor Lee has paved the way for female ministry, and has proved that both sexes should enjoy an equal opportunity to serve in the ministry. She has been noted for her peaceful and cooperative approach. Pastor Lee Ching Chee is a female leader in the Church of Hong Kong and is the first officially ordained female pastor in the territory. She is devoted to her ministry and to education, adopting peaceful and cooperative approaches.

Ching Chee Lee – Hong Kong SAR

She is a retired pastor.

Lee Ching Chee was ordained pastor in 1966. It is a lifelong commitment. Even though she is now retired, Pastor Lee still carries out her duties as a pastor. She is one of the few leaders in the Church who advocate ecumenism. She was responsible for introducing the mission of the Ecumenical Community to Hong Kong, for instance by participating in the Hong Kong Christian Council, and other denominations. Pastor Lee has a world vision and at the same time has focused on building a solid foundation in Hong Kong by linking ecumenism with local beliefs.

Having devoted herself to education and religious duties for over four decades, Pastor Lee played a dual role of being a pastor and an educator in the school ministry. She made breakthroughs in education by abandoning narrow-minded ideas and outdated education methods such as changing the subject of Biblical Knowledge to Religious Education, and abolishing Religious Education examinations. Abandoning the use of outdated textbooks and directive teaching, Pastor Lee organized a discussion-oriented curriculum for Religious Education. She also changed morning prayers to morning assemblies, which involved the participation of all teachers in sharing their personal experience to make it life-oriented.

Between 1977 and 1981, Pastor Lee went as a missionary for peace to serve Third World churches. She quit her favourite job as a chaplain in Ying Wah Girls Secondary School and became the Secretary for Mission Education in the Council for World Mission based in England. She undertook the challenging global journey to visit and serve people in churches in the Third World countries. During those years she visited Northeast India where curfews were enforced after midnight, Belfast in Northern Ireland in times of the guerilla wars, and crawled along a mine 2,600 feet below ground level in Wales to listen to complaints from discontented miners. Her memory of the trip to the Church in South Pacific Ocean was still vivid as she recounted the situation in which she had to store her personal belongings in a plastic bag hung around her neck for fear of falling into the sea when traveling between islands on a canoe rowed by a native. Pastor Lee faced all these challenges and spent four years visiting many countries. She never gave up her mission to help establish co-operation between the Council for World Mission and churches in the Third World countries and to enhance understanding on the needs of non-white areas.

Pastor Lee always takes the initiative to shoulder responsibilities. She also tries her best to spread the message of sexual equality within the extent acceptable to the Church while promoting unity between the Church and women. For many years she had been a consultant of the Hong Kong Women?s Christian Council and acted as a bridge between the Church and women to promote equality of the two sexes within the Church. When she witnessed discrimination against women in her denomination, she would share what she had seen with the church and other younger members of the Church to encourage mutual vigilance. She does not come into direct confrontation with the Church or any individual by declaring herself a feminist to challenge the authority. Instead she gives guidance to other younger female members so that they can interact within the extent acceptable to the Church and encourages them to explore their blessings in order to serve God.

All in all, she is a missionary in religion and an educator who is willing to shoulder heavy responsibilities. She educates by leading an exemplary life and shapes the life values of her students. She is a pastor who is devoted to religious education and enlightens others with her own life. (Read all on 1000peacewomen 2005).